Designing cities for circularity and resilience

Cities are where the world’s biggest challenges and opportunities converge. They occupy just 2% of the Earth’s land, yet house half the global population and generate around 80% of emissions. In a time of accelerating climate change and geopolitical instability, cities are becoming the testing ground for whether we can secure clean air, reliable infrastructure and social stability. In 2025, Envac appointed its first Chief Sustainability Officer, underlining the strategic importance of sustainability for our future growth and long‑term competitiveness.

Envac contributes in a very concrete way. Our automated waste collection systems move waste through underground pipes instead of crowded streets, reducing emissions, noise and traffic while freeing up space for housing and green areas. Because the systems are designed for source separation, materials circulate back into the economy – making cities more circular by design.

Resilience, to me, is not abstract. My background in defence has shown how quickly systems can be stressed – and how stability depends on functioning infrastructure.

By automating collection and placing it underground, we reduce vulnerability to disruptions such as labour shortages, extreme weather or blocked streets. Our systems also generate data that gives cities a clear, evidence-based understanding of waste flows, enabling better decisions in uncertain times.

We won’t reach the Paris Agreement or the SDGs through short-term projects. We need to transform the backbone of urban systems. With Envac, the benefits accumulate every day over decades: fewer trucks, cleaner air and more efficient land use. Our data makes climate impact and cost efficiency visible, helping cities and investors act with confidence.

The opportunities are significant – urbanisation, regulation and rising expectations are accelerating change. But barriers remain. Short-term thinking, fragmented systems and human behaviour still slow progress. The way forward is to focus on solutions that work in real cities, that scale and deliver visible results.

Sustainability is no longer debated – it is expected. The real questions now are about speed, scale and fairness. Cities are central to this shift, and if people don’t experience improvements in everyday life, trust erodes. Envac helps bridge global ambition and local reality by delivering measurable results and insights that accelerate circularity.

It has been a year of both complexity and clarity. The world has become more uncertain – but it’s also clearer than ever that circular, resilient infrastructure is essential. We’ve strengthened our capabilities and partnerships, and continue to move from doom to do-ability – scaling solutions that make a real difference in cities worldwide.